In February 2017, Kathryn Brunner, a music educator for 17 years in the USA, posted an article on the Truro Preschool and Kindergarten website extolling the value of early music education for children.

A study by Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is the first of its kind to show a connection between musical rhythm and grammar. It suggests that a child’s ability to distinguish musical rhythm is related to his or her capacity for understanding grammar.

‘Music for Change’ 2015-18, is a multi-year programme which enhances children’s early development and improve rates of school readiness among pre-school children in northwest Westminster, an area of multiple deprivation, and it has reported on its first year.

Study after study proves that regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students do better in school than those who have no music involvement. Whether it is improved spatial-temporal reasoning, which is integral to mathematics, or repetition of tunes and melodies, which is integral to verbal memory, learning, playing and creating music benefits children in many ways.